RaceDepartments MX-5 Championship series season opener

The wait is finally over! The RaceDepartment's first iRacing championship starts today. Drivers from around the world will be fighting it out over six rounds taking in some of the worlds finest tracks driving the very popular MX-5 Cup and Roadster cars. This exciting championship which takes place over the next six weeks has seen great demand among the many iRacing fans at RaceDepartment.com. That enthusiasm, coupled with iRacing's superb track and car technology is a recipe for an exciting season!

Season 1 starts today with drivers tackling Laguna Seca's world famous corkscrew section that has thrilled drivers for decades. Baked by the Californian sun the track is easy to learn but hard to master with many drivers having a love/hate relationship with this historic track. This technical track has been home to some of the greatest racing series including Champ Car/Cart series, American Le Mans series, MotoGP, Superbike World Championship and A1 GP.

Round 2 keeps the drivers Stateside, this time visiting Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. It first opened in 1970 and has been well used by the SCCA for events and driving schools. Its the second shortest track drivers will face in the series but boasts a 400 foot elevation change with a number of fast sweeping corners and a long straight which means speeds as well as the stakes will be high!

Round 3 sees the drivers back in Europe at the world famous Brands Hatch circuit. It was the host of the British Grand Prix 12 times between 1964 and 1986 and it will be the GP circuit that drivers will use for this round of the championship. Drivers will again face challenging elevation changes and blind bends at this track with many of its sections named after some of the worlds greatest drivers.

Round 4 has the championship travel back to the US to Lime Rock Park. This is the shortest track on our calendar but don't let that fool you into thinking it will be an easy race for our drivers! It has a front straight almost a mile long before drivers brake hard down into the first of 7 challenging turns. This track is used extensively by the SCCA and also plays host to the Grand Am GT and American Le Mans series.

Round 5 takes place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Drivers will be racing on the full 12 turn configuration used by the American Le Mans series for its gruelling thousand mile Petit Le Mans Event. Owned by the Panoz Motor Sports Group, this track features some daunting blind bends and leaps of faith as drivers tackle its 2.5 miles of asphalt hell.

Round 6 and the championship could not have finished at a more historic track. Known around the world simply as 'Spa'; Circuit de Spa Francorchamps is a track much loved by drivers around the world and just the mention of Eau Rouge will bring a smile to any drivers face. It hosted its first Grand Prix in 1925 and was redeveloped in 2007 after a series of political and financial problems saw it dropped from the Grand Prix calendar but has since returned much to the delight of drivers and fans. This track will take drivers on a 4.3 mile roller coaster ride through the Ardennes taking in 19 turns which has tested the greatest drivers from all over the world.

Picked up a nice pre-race injury this afternoon......... burned my right hand whilst handling a hot tray from the oven (cooking dinner). Is a bit sensitve to the touch, but not an excuse for my performance, as am s***e anyway, lol.

Just hoping it doesn't become too much of a distraction that I can't actually complete the race, slow or otherwise, lol.